Indian cagers stun fancied KuwaitNew Delhi, September 23Overcoming the jetlag, Indians, spearheaded by veterans Parminder Singh and Desraj, opened their campaign with a thrilling 94-74 win over fancied Kuwait in the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Championship at Harbin, China.

USA women's World Cup player Cat Reddick makes a stop during
a practice session at the Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia
on Monday. Reddick will replace injured teammate Brandi Chastain in the lineup. The
US team, which defeated Sweden in the first round 3-1, will face Nigeria on Thursday.
— Reuters

Shakti
wins silver in Asian athleticsNew Delhi, September 23Shakti Singh won India’s third silver in the 15th Asian
Athletics Championship in men’s shot put on the concluding day of
the meet in Manila, the Philippines today. India also won another
bronze in the women’s 4x400m relay.

Thai athletes celebrate after winning the 4x100m relay final during the last day of the 15th Asian Athletics Championships in Manila
on Tuesday. The athletes are (from L-R) Jukamass Tawonchsroen, Orranut Klomdee, Nongnuch Sanrat and Sangwan Jaksunin.
— Reuters

SA agree to tour
PakistanDurban, September 23South Africa have reversed their decision to cancel a tour of Pakistan after the hosts offered a revised itinerary, the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) said today.

Nine-member
panel to handle case of playersChandigarh, September 23A nine-member committee set up by the Punjab Sports
Minister, Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, here tonight to look into the
problems of outstanding sportspersons facing reversion in Punjab Armed
Police will hold its first meeting on September 25 at 11 am.

New Delhi, September 23Karnam Malleswari, K M Beenamol and Anjali Bhagwat have set their sights firmly on the Olympic Games at Athens, 2004 and they are taking the ‘minor’ events before the big show as just stepping stones to reach their ultimate destination.

AnjaliBhagwat (left), K. Malleswari (centre) and K.M. Beenamol at a
Press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. —
PTI photo

ONGC, PSB Academy win; Ropar Hawks loseChandigarh, September 23Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Dehra Dun, stroked out Southern Railway 4-2 in the tie-breaker while Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Jalandhar, edged out Ropar Hawks 2-1 on the third day of the 33rd SN Vohra’s All-India Gurmit Memorial Hockey Tournament at the Panjab University grounds here today.

Former Surrey and England cricketer Alec Stewart with the
Lifetime Achievement Award during the Professional Cricketers Association annual dinner in
London
on Monday. Stewart, 40, retired earlier this month after the fifth and final Test of the summer against South Africa.
He played 133rd Tests in a 14-year international career, which included more than 8,000 runs and 15 centuries at Test
level.
— AP/PTI

A November 13, 1998, file photo shows former world heavyweight boxing champion Frank Bruno of Britain in London. Bruno has been taken for treatment to a psychiatric hospital, British media reported on Monday. According to the reports, the 41-year-old divorced father of three was taken from his home in Brentwood, in Essex, near London, by paramedics to a local hospital. — Reuters

Delhi, Haryana shuttlers dominateShimla, September 23Delhi lifted the Rahimtoola Cup in the men’s section and Narang Cup in the boys section defeating Chandigarh in both the events while Haryana won the Chadha Cup in the women’s section and Safi Qureshi Cup in the girls section defeating Chandigarh and Delhi respectively in the finals of North Zone Inter-state Badminton Championship here today.

India, who scored five goals each in both halves, could have won by a bigger margin had they not frittered away at least a dozen scoring opportunities.

The big win must have done a world of good to the side’s confidence since they will be playing arch-rival Pakistan tomorrow.

Though the match against Pakistan will only help determine the pool leaders, for India it will be of immence
importance since it will give them the perfect opportunity to avenge for the loss they suffered against their arch-rivals in in Champions Trophy in Amstelveen last month.

India took the lead in the seventh minute through Dilip Tirkey, who came up with a commendable performance in the absence of regular short corner expert Jugraj Singh.

Tirkey’s goal opened the floodgates as the Indians scored at will against their weak opponents, who struggled for ball possession throughout the match. —
PTI

New Delhi, September 23
Overcoming the jetlag, Indians, spearheaded by veterans Parminder Singh and Desraj, opened their campaign with a thrilling 94-74 win over fancied Kuwait in the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Championship at Harbin, China.

According to information received here today, the Robinson-led Indians, who were on the court within two hours of their arrival, played a percentage game throughout and kept the pressure on their Asian rivals.

Combining well, playmaker Sambaji Kadam and Sridhar fed the shooters upfront and helped India surged ahead with a lead of 19-12 by the end of the first quarter.

The Indians increased their lead further, thanks to some excellent play in the second quarter, where they had wrested the initiative with a 23-point lead of 47-24 at half time.

This forced the Kuwaiti cagers on the back foot and it was visible in the third quarter when they were finding the going real tough despite making amends for their second quarter play.

Though the Kuwaitis somewhat made up for the loss in the third quarter, the Indians with better execution and fine work under the ring by the Desraj-Robinson combine kept the lead to 17 points.

When the last quarter began, the Indians only had to keep playing the way they began and that is precisely what they did. In the end, the Indians had won the game with a lot to spare — 20 points — and now they look forward to taking on Malaysia in their next game tomorrow.

According to chief coach K.K. Chansooriya, the Indians despite the jet-lag, kept their concentration going once they entered the court.

‘’Besides combining well, our defence also stood its ground and forced the Kuwaitis into making error,’’ said the chief coach. Both Robinson and Desraj may have done the bulk of scoring but it was the experience of Parminder Singh senior which did the trick for the Indians as Parminder played his role — both in rebound collection and in scoring — to perfection in the first two quarters.

‘’In fact, this is what changed the complexion of the game from which the rest of our players capitalised on,’’ said Chansooriya.

New Delhi, September 23
Shakti Singh won India’s third silver in the 15th Asian Athletics
Championship in men’s shot put on the concluding day of the meet in
Manila, the Philippines today.

India also won another bronze in the women’s 4x400m
relay. But apart from these two events, it was again a tale of
disappointment for the Indian contingent who competed in Manila without
top stars.

Shakti cleared a distance of 19.04m to finish
a distant second behind Qatar’s Bilal Saad Mubarak who beat the Indian
by a big margin, touching 19.41m.

Qatar also won the
bronze when Khaled Habash al-Suwaidi finished further behind clearing
18.57m, according to information received here. The women’s 4x400m
relay team won a bronze behind China and Kazakhstan to take India’s
collection to three silver and three bronze medals in the four-day meet.

India’s
medal hopes in the men’s 800m were shattered when Asian Games silver
medallist K M Binu was forced to pull out of the race with fever. The
gold in the event went to Adam Abdu Ali of Qatar who won in 1:46.20
seconds. — PTI

Chandigarh, September 23
A nine-member committee set up by the Punjab Sports Minister, Mr
Jagmohan Singh Kang, here tonight to look into the problems of
outstanding sportspersons facing reversion in Punjab Armed Police will
hold its first meeting on September 25 at 11 am.

Talking to The Tribune, Mr Kang said since the action taken report in the case has to be filed in Punjab and Haryana High Court on October 21, the committee has been asked to submit its report in a time-bound manner.

Besides Director of Sports (Haryana) and Legal Remembrancer (Punjab) shall be special invitees to the meetings of the nine-member committee.

Mr
Kang said since the time at the disposal of the committee was short,
it has been asked to hold its meetings on regular basis to thrash out
a legal solution so that no outstanding sportsman or woman faces any
reversion, demotion or removal from service from Punjab Armed Police.

New Delhi, September 23
Karnam Malleswari, K M Beenamol and Anjali Bhagwat have set their sights firmly on the Olympic Games at Athens, 2004 and they are taking the ‘minor’ events before the big show as just stepping stones to reach their ultimate destination.

‘Iron Lady’ Karnam Malleswari’s immediate goal is to qualify for the Olympics, and she is toiling hard to make the grade at the World Weightlifting Championship, to be held in Vancour in November. Malleswari’s 69kg event has been scheduled for November 19, and this has put her in a major dilemma as she would not be able to participate in the inaugural Afro Asian Games to be held in Hyderabad, the capital city of her home State, Andhra Pradesh, from October 24 to November 1.

Malleswari plans to concentrate on the world championship, and indicated that she would skip the Afro-Asian Games, though with a heavy heart. But she added that a final decision about her participation in the Afro-Asiad would be taken by the Weightlifting Federation of India (WFI).

Track queen KM Beenamol, who shared the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the highest sporting honour bestowed on a sportsperson in India, with shooter Anjali Bhagwat this year, may skip the Afro-Asian Games for a different reason, as the injury she suffered on her foot was yet to fully heal. Beenamol said she had dropped the bar on her foot while doing weight training in Bangalore two months back, and the injury has been troubling her ever since. She pulled out of the Asian Athletic Championship at Manila due to this injury, though she said she had begun training on track in Patiala. But her level of fitness would be known only when she competes in the Open Nationals to be held in Bangalore from September 28.

Shooter Anjali Bhagwat said she would compete in the Afro-Asian Games, but her immediate target was the World Cup to be held at Milan next week for the best eight shooters of the world. The World Cup will be followed by the Afro-Asian Games and the Commonwealth Championship, slated to be held in New Delhi in December.

Chandigarh, September 23
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Dehra Dun, stroked out Southern Railway 4-2 in the tie-breaker while Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Jalandhar, edged out Ropar Hawks 2-1 on the third day of the 33rd SN Vohra’s All-India Gurmit Memorial Hockey Tournament at the Panjab University grounds here today.

In the day’s other matches, Punjab and Sind Bank Academy carved out a 5-2 win over Bhopal XI and Centre of Excellence, Patiala, shocked Central Railway 6-5 in sudden death after the two sides were locked goal-less at the end of regulation time.

It was indeed an unlucky day for the Railway outfits. Southern Railway, coached by former national coach Vasudevan Baskaran’s brother Jaya Sekaran, managed to hold the rivals 1-1 in regulation time, but in the tie-breaker that ensued they managed to convert only one stroke while the rivals struck thrice to knock them out of contention. After a goal-less first half, ONGC took the lead in the 38th minute when international Anurag Raghuvanshi, who represented India in the 2000 Asia Cup, sounded the board with a hard it off a short corner.

The fast-paced encounter saw quick exchanges and off a counter-attack in the 57th minute, Devakaran restored parity through a field goal. Thereafter ONGC’s Anwar Khan, who played in the junior World Cup, and Vivek Gupta carried out some forays but failed. In the battle of strokes, ONGC’s Vivek Gupta, Amit Kumar, and Gurpreet Singh were on target while for Southern Railway only MV Rahval was successful.

Central Railway also tasted defeat in similar fashion. After the two teams were locked goal-less in regulation time, Centre of Excellence prevailed over the rivals 6-5 in sudden death after the two sides were level 3-3 in the tie-breaker. For the Patiala outfit, the scorers were Harvinder Singh, Sandeep Singh and skipper Sachin.

Punjab and Sind Bank Academy overpowered a fighting Bhopal XI 5-2 after leading 3-1 at half time. The academy lads took the lead in the eight minute through a field goal scored by Jarnail Singh. Bhopal XI restored parity two minutes later through Tabbez. Thereafter, Harmeet Singh and Yadvinder Singh scored two quick field goals to make it 3-1 for the Patiala outfit. In the second session, Bhopal XI struck through Haseebuddin who converted a penalty corner to make it 2-3. But thereafter Punjab and Sind Bank Academy added two more goals through Jarnail singh and Gurpreet Singh in the 49th and 68th minutes, respectively, to make the issue safe for their team.

Earlier, EME Jalandhar edged out Ropar Hawks 2-1. Having taken the lead in the 15th minute through a field goal scored by Rajesh Kumar, EME surrendered the advantage late in the second half when Kulbir Singh of Ropar Hawks sounded the board with a deft placement in the 65th minute. But with two minutes to go for the long whistle, EME settled the issue through another field goal scored by Rajesh Kumar (2-1).

Shimla, September 23
Delhi lifted the Rahimtoola Cup in the men’s section and Narang Cup in the boys section defeating Chandigarh in both the events while Haryana won the Chadha Cup in the women’s section and Safi Qureshi Cup in the girls section defeating Chandigarh and Delhi respectively in the finals of North Zone Inter-state Badminton Championship here today.

Delhi defeated Chandigarh (3-2) in the finals. Devinder Dhillon of Delhi beat Gurjeet of Chandigarh 15-3,15-12 in the first singles while Tanvir Gill (Del) beat Ashish Sharma (Chg) in the second singles 15-13, 15-8. The Chandigarh boys fought back and Amit Sachdeva (Chg) won the reverse singles defeating Himansu (Del) 15-13,14-17, 15-9 to extend the match to the fourth tie. Ashish and Amit (Chg) won the first doubles defeating Devinder and Parveen (Delhi) 15-13,10-15, 15-10 levelling the match at 2-2. In the last game both the sides fought for every point.

In the women’s section, Kannu Aggarwal of Haryana beat H. Sarda of Chandigarh 11-6, 13-10 in the first singles and Haryana got a walkover in the doubles as Mala of Chandigarh fell ill and could not play. Haryana lifted the trophy defeating Chandigarh 2-0.

The match, played at DAV School, Sector 8, was reduced to 30 overs a side due to overnight rain. Madhya Pradesh won the toss and elected to field but the bankmen put up a spirited fight as they scored 177 for seven in their allotted overs. Their innings was held together by an unbeaten 93 Devendra Bundela who faced just 81 balls. His knock included 10 fours and two sixes. In reply, Madhya Pradesh could muster just 161 runs for nine in their quota of overs.

In another match, played at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium, ONGC got past Rajasthan Cricket Association by 22 in yet another 30-over-a-side encounter. The oilmen owe a lot to Gagan Khoda, who came good with the bat, scoring a fluent 71.

SUNIL LOSES IN FIRST
ROUND
NEW DELHI: Former Asian junior champion Sunil Kumar Sipaeya made his exit on Monday in the first
round of the Asian Tennis Championships in Tashkent. Sipaeya lost to Murad Inoyatov of Uzbekistan 3-6, 1-6, according to information received here.
Other Indians to compete at the Asian championships are Davis cuppers Rohan Bopanna and Harsh
Mankad in the men’s section, Isha Lakhani, Ankita Bhambri and Megha Vakharia in the women’s section. —
PTI

Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic reacts after defeating Dennis Van Scheppingen of Netherlands during their first round match of Heineken Open tennis tournament
in Shanghai, China, on Tuesday. Novak won 6-2, 7-6 (6) to advance to the second
round. — AP/PTI

KAHLON'S TRAINING
NEW DELHI: Golfer Harmeet Kahlon will undertake a specialised golf coaching in an academy in Arzaga, near Milan from Wednesday ahead of important upcoming events. The week-long coaching, under the supervision Donato Di Ponziano, will help Kahlon improve the finer aspects of his swing, putting and short game and give finishing touches to his game prior to the PGA tours in Korea, Macau, Taiwan and European tour qualifying school in late October and November, according to Indian Golf Union sources. —
PTI

BOXING MEET
CHANDIGARH: The Western Command Headquarters has selected five boxers in the sub-junior category for admission to the Army’s Boys Hostel, and selected another 20 for enrolment into the Army during the four-day boxing championship in the sub-junior (12-14 years) and junior (15-18 years) categories, which concluded at Sabathu, near Solan, Monday evening.

The first three places in the junior category (boys) were won by Sukhbir Singh (Ropar), Anil Kumar (Patiala) and Hani Masih (Chandigarh). In the sub-junior category (boys) Jasanpreet, Inderjeet Singh (Chandigarh) and Jaswinder Singh (Rohtak) bagged the first three places. The girls from Ropar district — Nishma, Navjeet Kaur and Gurdeep Kaur — bagged all the first three positions in the sub-junior category. —
TNS

VIKAS, IQBAL BEST
CHANDIGARH: The SGGS Khalsa College, Mahilpur, won the Panjab University Inter-College Cross Country (Men) Championship with 47 points. The SGGS College, Sector 26, Chandigarh, DAV College, Chandigarh and the GGDSD College, Chandigarh, got second, third and fourth positions with 97, 100 and 149 points, respectively. Vikas Kumar of the DAV College was declared the best athlete. Ramgarhia Girls College, Ludhiana, won the women’s championship with 25 points.

Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana, G.T.B. Khalsa College for Women, Dasuya and Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Chandigarh, got second, third and fourth positions with 34, 51 and 58 points, respectively. Iqbal Kaur of the G.T.B. Kh College for Women, Dasuya was adjudged the best athlete. —
TNS